The innermost hankering of every living soul is for beauty, love, affection, and harmony; not for power, knowledge, or anything else. This is the diagnosis of the whole creation in time and space: their common cause is one. But it is rare for a soul to reach such a clear stage of hankering for reality as to understand this point. Few souls are to be found in this world who are really conscious of their innermost necessity, who realise, «We want Krishna! We want Vrndavan!» Such sincere souls are not easily found. This is mentioned in many places in scripture (manusyanam sahasresu … narayana parayanah … brahmananam sahasrebhyah …).
There is only one end — many are not necessary — only one, the one, that very one we want, is a relationship of divine love.
An intellectual understanding of Krishna consciousness is impossible. Just as a bee cannot taste honey by licking the outside of a glass jar, one cannot enter the domain of higher spirit through the intellect. As subjects we are subordinate to the Supreme Subject. So, there must be seva, service. Seva is the all-important factor. In the Bhagavad-gita, it is mentioned that pranipat, respectfully approaching, pariprasna, sincerely enquiring, and seva, an attitude of service, are necessary to enter into the domain of divine love. Only by service will Krishna be satisfied and come down; only then will we be able to understand the nature of higher plane. This is Vedic knowledge.
We are tatastha-sakti, marginal potency, and if we want to know any truth about higher reality, we must realise that it is more subtle than our existence, it is super-subjective: it can touch us, but we cannot climb up to that domain out of our own sweet will. Only if we are given the grace which can take us up can we go.
One who has this understanding will be able to combat all the existing intellectualists. The intellect has no capacity to enter into the higher subjective area. That Supreme Truth is atindriya, avan-manasa-gocharah: beyond the plane of the senses, mind, and intellect. This expression manaso vapuso vacho vaibhavam tava gocharah by Brahma, admitting to Krishna that He was beyond the reach of his body, mind, and words, was not only a lip-deep statement of the mouth. If we want to know the Absolute Truth, the only condition for realising Him is a submissive attitude. In that way, He may be satisfied with our attempt and reveal Himself to us. Divine revelation is not a matter of research within this world. We should have a sincere heart to serve.
The scientists are discovering so many wonderful things. But are these things there already? Or are the scientists the creators? Those wonderful truths are already there. It is only that some of them are being discovered. It is not the creation of the scientists, so they are not superior to those truths. And in any case, they can know only a part of it, and even that with some endeavor. But the conscious nature of reality, the superior reason of Divinity, is unknown to them, although they may go on researching, researching, researching. Whatever they find is only the outer cover, not the real spirit, the substance. Na te viduh svartha-gatim hi Visnum. In the Srimad Bhagavatam (7.5.30), it is written:
matir na krsne paratah svato va
mitho ‘bhipadyeta grha-vratanam
adanta-gobhir visatam tamisram
punah punas charvita-charvananam
Srimad Bhagavatam tells us that we can try to enter the world of higher reality through intellectualism, but we will again come back, baffled in our attempts. If we try to press with our intelligence to enter into that domain, we will come back dissatisfied in despair and will wander here within this mortal world again and again. The world of sense experience will come and go through its different phases, but it cannot enter that spiritual plane. To enter that world, the only requirement is submission to a real agent of Divinity. He may impart the process, and if we can accept that, we will be able to enter that world; otherwise, we will have to wander in this world of sense experience.
Some scholars think that knowledge is of the first importance. According to them, if one wants to enter that realm, he should first acquire knowledge through scholarship and then try for love. They think that by knowledge alone we can understand what divine love is, and then we can have admission into that domain. They don’t approve of the idea of jnana-sunya-bhakti, or «knowledge-free devotion». Once, the founder of the Bharat Seva Ashram Sangha wanted me to join his mission. I told him, «My head is already sold to the teachings of Sri Chaitanyadev.» He said, «Yes, I also revere Him, but I say that first you must learn indifference to this worldly pleasure, as Buddha preached. Then you may come to study the Vedanta of Sankar, understand what is knowledge proper, and realise that all this world is nothing, and brahma, spirit, is everything. Then you may approach the prema-dharma, the love of Sri Chaitanyadev, which I also think to be the highest object of attainment.» I answered, «You say so, but Sri Chaitanyadev did not say that we should go to the Buddhist school to learn abnegation and then to the Sankar school to acquire Vedantic knowledge before coming to Him. He said that wherever one is, one should get the association of a real Vaisnava saint and go on with sravan-kirtan, hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord.» That man was struck dumb. He could not speak; he was silenced.
Another time, the president of the Arya Samaj came to see me in Karachi and told me that, «If the finite can know the Infinite, He is not infinite.» I replied, «If the Infinite cannot make Himself known to the finite, He is not infinite.» He could not answer my argument.